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Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas , known as GTA: SA, GTA: San Andreas, or just simply San Andreas is a 2004 open world action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North in the United Kingdom and published by Rockstar Games. It is the third 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise, the fifth original console release and eighth game overall. Originally released for the PlayStation 2 in October 2004,2 the game has since been released for the Xbox and Microsoft Windows in June 2005, the Xbox Live Marketplace for the Xbox 360 in October 2008, and the PlayStation Store via PSN for the PlayStation 3 in December 2012. It was made available on Steam on January 4, 2008,6 and on Intel-based Macs running a minimum of Mac OS X 10.6.6 in September 2011. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was the sequel to the successful title Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002) and succeeded by Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories in 2005. Expanding the size of the in-game map from previous GTA titles, GTA: San Andreas is set in the semi-fictional state of San Andreas (based on California and Nevada) and its three metropolitan cities: Los Santos (based on Los Angeles), San Fierro (based on San Francisco), and Las Venturas (based on Las Vegas). Set in 1992,7 the game revolves around the gang member Carl "CJ" Johnson returning home to Los Santos after learning of his mother's murder. CJ finds his old friends and family in disarray, and over the course of the game, he tries to re-establish his old gang, the Grove Street Families, clashes with corrupt cops, and gradually unravels the truth behind his mother's murder. The plot is based on multiple real-life events in Los Angeles, including the rivalry between the Bloods and Crips street gangs, the crack epidemic, the LAPD Rampart scandal, and the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Like other games in the series, GTA: San Andreas is composed of elements from driving games and third-person shooters, and features open world gameplay, in which players can interact with the game world at their leisure. The game introduced several gameplay elements to the series, including gang wars, car tuning, and extensive player customisation. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas received wide critical acclaim and sold well on all platforms for which it was released. According to review aggregator website Metacritic, the game was the fifth-highest-rated release for the PlayStation 2. With over 17.33 million copies of the game sold for the PlayStation 2, it is the console's best-selling game. As of 2011, the game has sold 27.5 million copies worldwide. Like previous entries in the GTA series, San Andreas was highly controversial for its violent and sexual content. The game was briefly re-rated in 2005 by the Entertainment Software Rating Board as "Adults Only" after a player-made software patch, dubbed the "Hot Coffee mod", unlocked a previously hidden sexual minigame. Subsequent re-releases removed the content and retained the game's original "Mature" rating. Contents hide 1 Gameplay 1.1 RPG features in character development 1.2 Vehicles 1.3 Other additions and changes 2 Synopsis 2.1 Setting 2.2 Characters 2.3 Plot 3 Soundtrack 4 Reception 4.1 Sales and commercial success 5 Controversies 5.1 Hot Coffee mod 5.2 Alleged racism 6 The Introduction 7 Follow-ups 8 References 9 External links Gameplaysource | editbeta The player driving a car towards the Grove Street cul-de-sac in Los Santos at dusk. San Andreas is structured similarly to the previous two games in the series. The core gameplay consists of elements of a third-person shooter and a driving game, affording the player a large, open world environment in which to move around. On foot, the player's character is capable of walking, eating, running, sprinting, swimming, climbing (the first GTA game in which swimming and climbing are possible) and jumping as well as using weapons and various forms of hand to hand combat. Players can drive a variety of vehicles, including automobiles, buses, semis, boats, fixed wing aircraft, helicopters, trains, tanks, motorcycles and bikes. Players may also import vehicles rather than steal them. The open, non-linear environment allows players to explore and choose how they wish to play the game. Although storyline missions are necessary to progress through the game and unlock certain cities and content, they are not required as players can complete them at their own leisure. When not taking on a storyline mission, players can free-roam and look around the cities, eat from the restaurant, or cause havoc by attacking people and causing destruction. Creating havoc can attract unwanted and potentially fatal attention from the authorities. The more chaos caused, the stronger the response: police will handle "minor" infractions (attacking pedestrians, pointing guns at people, stealing vehicles, manslaughter, etc.), whereas SWAT teams, the FBI, and the military respond to higher wanted levels. The player can partake in a variety of optional side missions that can boost their character's attributes or provide another source of income. The traditional side missions of the past games are included, such as dropping off taxi cab passengers, putting out fires, driving injured people to the hospital and fighting crime as a vigilante. New additions include burglary missions, pimping missions, truck and train driving missions requiring players to make deliveries on time, and driving/flying/boating/biking schools, which help players learn skills and techniques to use in their corresponding vehicles. Not all locations are open to the player at the start of the game. Some locales, such as pay 'n spray, gyms, and shops, become available only after completing certain missions. Likewise, for the first portion of the game, only Los Santos and its immediate suburbs are available for exploration; unlocking the other cities and rural areas again requires the completion of certain missions. If the player were to try travel in locked locations they would end up attracting the attention of SWAT teams. Unlike GTA III and Vice City, which needed loading screens when the player moved between different districts of the city, San Andreas has no load times when the player is in transit. The only loading screens in the game are for cut-scenes and interiors. Other differences between San Andreas and its predecessors include the switch from single-player to multiplayer Rampage missions (albeit not in the PC version), and the replacement of the 'hidden packages' with spray paint tags, hidden camera shots, horseshoes, and oysters to discover. The camera, fighting, and targeting controls were reworked to incorporate concepts from another Rockstar game, Manhunt, including various stealth elements,8 as well as improved target crosshairs and a target health indicator which changes from green to red to black depending on the target's health. The PC version of the game implements mouse chording; the player has to hold the right mouse button to activate the crosshairs, and then click or hold at the left mouse button to shoot or use an item, such as a camera. The player has a gunfight with members of an enemy gang. In addition, players can swim and climb walls for the first time in the series.9 The ability to swim has a great effect on the player as well, since water is no longer an impassable barrier that kills the player (although it is possible to drown). For greater firepower, players can also wield dual firearms or perform a drive-by shooting with multiple gang members. Due to the size of San Andreas, a waypoint reticule on the HUD map can be set, aiding the player in reaching a destination. RPG features in character developmentsource | editbeta Rockstar has emphasized the personalization of the main protagonist by adding many role-playing game elements. Clothing, accessories, haircuts, jewelry, and tattoos are now available for purchase by the player, and have more of an effect on non-player characters' reactions than the clothing in Vice City. CJ's level of respect among his fellow recruits and street friends varies according to his appearance and actions, as do his relationships with his girlfriends. Players must also ensure CJ eats to stay healthy and also exercises properly. The balance of food and physical activity has an effect on his appearance and physical attributes.9 San Andreas tracks acquired skills in areas such as driving, firearms handling, stamina, and lung capacity, which improve through use in the game.9 CJ may also learn three different styles of hand-to-hand combat (boxing, kung fu and Muay Thai) at the gyms in each of the game's three cities. CJ can also speak with a number of pedestrians in the game, responding either negatively or positively. According to Rockstar, there are about 4,200 lines of spoken dialogue.10 Vehiclessource | editbeta In total, there are around 200 vehicles in the game11 compared to approximately 60 in GTA III. New additions include bicycles, a combine harvester, a street sweeper, a hovercraft, trailers and others. Car physics and features are similar to the Midnight Club series of street racing games, allowing for much more midair vehicle control as well as nitrous upgrades and aesthetic modification. There are several different classes of vehicles that serve different purposes. Off-road vehicles perform better in rough environments, while racing cars perform better on tracks or on the street. Jets are fast, but usually need a runway to land. Helicopters can land almost anywhere and are much easier to control in the air, but are slower. While previous Grand Theft Auto games had only a few aircraft that were difficult to access and fly, San Andreas has 11 fixed wing aircraft and nine helicopters and makes them more integral in the game's missions. There is also the ability to skydive from aircraft, using a parachute. Several boats were added, while some were highly modified. Other additions and changessource | editbeta Other new features and changes from previous Grand Theft Auto games include: Gang wars: Battles with enemy gangs are prompted whenever the player ventures into enemy territory and kills at least three gang members. If the player then survives three waves of enemies, the territory will be won and fellow gang members will begin wandering the streets of these areas. The more territory owned by the player, the more money that will be generated. Occasionally, the player's territory will come under attack from enemy gangs and defeating them will be necessary to retain these areas. Once all marked territories are claimed from one of the two other gangs for the Grove Street Families, that gang can no longer attack. Once the player takes control of all the territories, none can come under attack.12 Car modification: Most automobiles in the game can be modified and upgraded at various garages. All car mods are strictly visual apart from the stereo and nitrous oxide upgrade which increases bass and gives the car a speed boost when activated respectively; and hydraulics, which lowers the car's height by default and allows the player to control various aspects of the car's suspension. Other common modifications include paintjobs, rims, body kits, side skirts, bumpers and stereo system upgrades. Burglary: Continuing the series' tradition of controversy, home invasion is included as a potential money-making activity.13 By stealing a burglary van, CJ is able to sneak into a residence at night, and cart off valuables or shake down the occupants. Minigames: Numerous minigames are also available for play in San Andreas, including basketball, pool, rhythm-based challenges (dancing and 'bouncing' lowriders with hydraulics), and video game machines that pay homage to classic arcade games. In addition, there are the aforementioned casino games and methods of gambling, such as betting on virtual horse races.14 Money: The money system has been expanded upon, compared to previous titles. Players can spend their cash on gambling, tattoos, meals, etc. Excessive gambling loss can force the player to sink into debt, which is shown in red negative numbers. When the player leaves a safehouse, CJ gets an unexpected call and a mysterious person tells him about his debts. Four gang members suddenly appear and shoot Carl on sight if he does not erase the debt when the mysterious person calls him a second time. Multiplayer: Rampages have been modified to allow two players to complete them. The players are both shown simultaneously on the screen, meaning they must stay within close proximity of each other. The multiplayer rampages were removed from the PC version of the game. While multiplayer modes were absent on the PC version (as with the previous games), third-party modifications like Multi Theft Auto and San Andreas Multiplayer provide such functionality. Synopsissource | editbetaSan Andreas Fictional state State of San Andreas Country United States State San Andreas Cities Las Venturas Los Santos San Fierro Area code(s) 342 Los Santos (323/424 Los Angeles) 514 San Fierro (415 San Francisco) 207 Las Venturas (702 Las Vegas) Website Official San Andreas website Settingsource | editbeta Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas takes place in 1992 within the state of San Andreas, which is based on sections of California and Nevada. It comprises three major fictional cities: Los Santos corresponds to Los Angeles, San Fierro corresponds to San Francisco, and Las Venturas corresponds to Las Vegas.9 The environments around these cities are also based on settings within the Southwestern region of the United States. Players can drive up the half-mile (800 m) tall Mount Chiliad (based on Mount Diablo), parachute from various peaks and skyscrapers, and visit 12 rural towns and villages located in three counties: Red County, Flint County and Bone County. Other notable destinations include Sherman Dam (based on the Hoover Dam), a large secret military base called Area 69 (based on Area 51), a large satellite dish (based on a dish from the Very Large Array), Vinewood (based on Hollywood) and the Vinewood sign (based on the Hollywood sign) which is located in Mulholland, and many other geographical features. Interestingly the bridges in San Fierro are based on the Forth road and rail bridges which link Edinburgh, the home of Rockstar North, to Fife although the road bridge is highly similar to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. San Andreas is 13.9 square miles (36 square kilometres),15 almost four times as large as Vice City and five times as large as the Grand Theft Auto III rendition of Liberty City. The three cities are linked by numerous highways, a train system, and air travel. While its predecessors' areas were limited to urban locations, San Andreas includes not only large cities and suburbs, but also the rural areas between them. Characterssource | editbeta Main article: List of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas characters The characters that appear in San Andreas are relatively diverse and relative to the respective cities and locales which each of them based himself in. This allows the game to include a significantly wider array of story lines and settings than in Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City. The player controls Carl "CJ" Johnson (Young Maylay), a young African-American gang member who serves as the game's protagonist. The Los Santos stages of the game revolve around the theme of the Grove Street Families gang fighting with the Ballas and the Vagos for territory and respect. East Asian gangs (most notably the local Triads), an additional Vietnamese gang (the Da Nang Boys), and a force of Hispanic thugs working for the local "Loco Syndicate" (the San Fierro Rifa) are evident in the San Fierro leg of the game, while three Mafia families and the Triads who all own their respective casino are more prominently featured in the Las Venturas section of the game. Like the previous two Grand Theft Auto games, the voice actors of San Andreas include notable celebrities, such as David Cross, Andy Dick, Ron Foster, Samuel L. Jackson, James Woods, Peter Fonda, Charlie Murphy, Frank Vincent, Chris Penn, Danny Dyer, Sara Tanaka, William Fichtner, Wil Wheaton, rappers Ice-T, Chuck D, Frost, MC Eiht and The Game and musicians George Clinton, Axl Rose, Sly and Robbie, and Shaun Ryder.16 Young Maylay makes his debut as the protagonist, Carl. The Guinness World Records 2009 Gamer's Edition lists it as the video game with the largest voice cast, with 861 credited voice actors, including 174 actors and 687 additional performers, many of those performers being fans of the series who wanted to appear on the game.17 Plotsource | editbeta This section's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (August 2013) ‹ The template Grand Theft Auto chronology is being considered for deletion. › Grand Theft Auto series fictional chronology 2D universe 1961 – London, 1961 1969 – London, 1969 1997 – Grand Theft Auto 1999 – Grand Theft Auto 2 3D universe 1984 – Vice City Stories 1986 – Vice City 1992 – San Andreas 1998 – Liberty City Stories 2000 – Advance 2001 – Grand Theft Auto III HD universe 2008 – Grand Theft Auto IV – The Lost and Damned – The Ballad of Gay Tony 2009 – Chinatown Wars 2013 – Grand Theft Auto V In 1992, Carl "C.J." Johnson returns to Los Santos after spending five years living in Liberty City when his brother Sean "Sweet" Johnson calls to inform him of their mother's murder. Shortly after leaving the airport, Carl is intercepted by a group of corrupt LSPD C.R.A.S.H. officers led by Frank Tenpenny, with whom Carl has a history. Tenpenny implicates Carl in the murder of a police officer that Tenpenny himself committed and threatens to frame him for it if he does not cooperate. Carl returns to his former home on Grove Street and reunites with Sweet as well as fellow members of his old gang Ryder and Big Smoke. Finding that the Grove Street Families (GSF) have lost much of their territory while he was gone, Carl decides to stay in town. Working with the others to re-establish the GSF, Carl gradually restores the gang to power, driving off the rival Ballas and Vagos gangs and reducing the amount of drugs on the street. While en route to join Sweet for a final stand against the Ballas, Carl is contacted by his sister Kendl's boyfriend, Cesar Vialpando. Cesar brings Carl to a garage where they witness Smoke and Ryder meeting with Tenpenny and a group of Ballas. Suspecting a set-up, Carl rushes to Sweet's aid, but the police arrive shortly afterward. Sweet is thrown in jail while Tenpenny takes Carl into the countryside and dumps him there. With the GSF in shambles, Smoke and Ryder, now openly allied with the Ballas, take over Los Santos and flood the streets with drugs. Exiled in the countryside, Carl works with Cesar's cousin Catalina to make money by carrying out several heists in the area. He also befriends a hippie called The Truth and a blind triad leader named Woozie. After winning the deed to a garage in San Fierro in a race against Catalina and her new boyfriend, Carl goes there with The Truth, Cesar and Kendl to get it up and running so they can make a living. While in San Fierro, Carl crosses paths with the Loco Syndicate, Smoke and Ryder's drug connection. Carl infiltrates the organization and identifies its leader, the mysterious Mike Toreno. Along with Cesar and the Triad, Carl kills Ryder and the other Loco Syndicate leaders, Jizzy-B and T-Bone Mendez, and shoots down Toreno's helicopter. Despite Toreno's apparent death, Carl is soon contacted by him in the desert. Toreno reveals that he is actually a government agent and enlists Carl's help in several shady operations in exchange for Sweet's freedom. Meanwhile, Carl travels to Las Venturas, where Woozie invites him to become a partner in the Four Dragons Casino, where the organization is facing problems from the mob families that control the city. Seeking to wrest control of Venturas from them, Carl helps Woozie plot a robbery of the mob's casino and gains the mob's trust through various jobs. Eventually the heist is carried out successfully, earning the Triad a place of power in Las Venturas. Carl also encounters disgraced rapper Madd Dogg, whom he rescues from a suicide attempt. Grateful, Madd Dogg asks Carl to be his manager once he returns from rehab. Tenpenny, fearing his arrest is inevitable, tasks his partner Eddie Pulaski with killing Carl and disposing of the body of another C.R.A.S.H. officer Jimmy Hernandez, who was informing on them. The wounded officer manages to attack, causing Pulaski to flee, but Carl pursues and kills him. Madd Dogg returns from rehab, prompting Carl to return to Los Santos to get his music career started again. Toreno contacts Carl for one last favor, and finally has Sweet released from prison. Now rich and successful, Carl attempts to cut Sweet in on his businesses, but Sweet becomes angry that he ran away and let their home be taken over by drug dealers to make his fortune. While Carl helps Sweet once again drive off the rival gangs, Tenpenny is tried for several felonies but the charges are surprisingly dropped, prompting a city-wide riot. Sweet soon learns that Smoke is holed up in a fortified crack den in the city, and seeking to stop the flow of drugs on the street, he and Carl go there to confront him. Carl enters the building alone, fighting his way to the top floor and battling Smoke. As Smoke dies, Tenpenny appears and steals Smoke's drug money, intending to use it to leave the city before the rioters kill him. Carl rushes out of the building and he and Sweet pursue him as he flees in a fire truck. Tenpenny loses control of the truck, driving off a bridge and crashing at the entrance to the Grove Street cul-de-sac. Carl and his friends watch as Tenpenny crawls from the wreckage and dies of his injuries. In the aftermath Carl's family and friends arrive at the Johnson house for a meeting. As his friends and allies celebrate their success, Carl turns to leave. When Kendl asks where he's going, he replies, "Fittin' to hit the block, see what's happening." Soundtracksource | editbeta Main articles: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas soundtrack, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Official Soundtrack, and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Official Soundtrack Box Set As with the previous two entries in the Grand Theft Auto series, San Andreas has an exhaustive number of tracks taken from the time period in which the game is based. San Andreas is serviced by eleven radio stations; WCTR (talk radio), Master Sounds 98.3 (rare groove, playing many of the old funk and soul tracks sampled by 1990s hip-hop artists), K-Jah West (dub and reggae; modeled after K-Jah from GTA III), CSR (New Jack Swing, Modern Soul), Radio X (alternative rock, metal and grunge), Radio Los Santos (gangsta rap), SF-UR (old school Chicago house music), Bounce FM (funk), K-DST (classic rock), K-Rose (country) and Playback FM (classic hip hop). The music system in San Andreas is enhanced from previous titles. In earlier in the series, each radio station was essentially a single looped sound file, playing the same songs, announcements and advertisements in the same order each time. In San Andreas, each section is held separately, and "mixed" randomly, allowing songs to be played in different orders, announcements to songs to be different each time, and plot events to be mentioned on the stations. This system would be used in Grand Theft Auto IV. WCTR, rather than featuring licensed music and DJs, features spoken word performances by actors such as Andy Dick performing as talk show hosts and listener callers in a parody of talk radio programming. Lazlow again plays as himself on the show "Entertaining America" on WCTR in the same persona as in III and Vice City. He takes over after the former presenter, Billy Dexter, is shot on air by in-game film star Jack Howitzer. Lazlow interviews guests such as O.G. Loc, who is one of the three characters Carl encounters during the game that is on the radio, along with Big Smoke and The Truth. The Xbox and Windows versions of the game include an additional radio station that supports custom soundtracks by playing user imported MP3s, allowing players to listen to their own music while playing the game. This feature is not available on the PlayStation 2 version of the game or when played on the Xbox 360. 18 Receptionsource | editbetaAwards IGN's Best of 2004 PlayStation 2 Game of the Year,19 Best PlayStation 2 Action Game,20 Best Story for PlayStation 221 GameSpot's Best and Worst of 2004 Best PlayStation 2 Game,22 Best Action Adventure Game,23 Readers' Choice — Best PlayStation 2 Action Adventure Game,24 Readers' Choice — PlayStation 2 Game of the Year,25 Best Voice Acting,26 Funniest Game27 2004 Spike TV Video Game Awards Game of the Year, Best Performance by a Human (Male), Best Action Game, Best Soundtrack Upon its release, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was met with universal critical acclaim, with many calling it one of the PlayStation 2's best games. It received an average review score of 95%, according to Metacritic, tying for the fifth-highest ranked game in PlayStation 2 history.28 IGN rated the game a 9.9/10 (the highest score it has ever awarded to a PlayStation 2 game), calling it "the defining piece of software" for the PlayStation 2.14 GameSpot rated the game 9.6/10, giving it an Editor's Choice award. GameSpot said "San Andreas definitely lives up to the Grand Theft Auto name. In fact, it's arguably the best game in the series".9 San Andreas also received an A rating from the 1UP.com network29 and a 10/10 score from Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. Common praises were made about the game's open-endedness, the size of the state of San Andreas, and the engaging storyline and voice acting. Most criticisms of the game stemmed from graphical mishaps, poor character models, and low-resolution textures, as well as various control issues, particularly with auto-aiming at enemies. Some critics commented that while a lot of new content had been added to San Andreas, little of it had been refined or implemented well.30 Nevertheless, since its release, San Andreas has been regarded to be one of the greatest games of all time, placing at number 28 in Edge's Top 100 Games to Play Today. Edge declared that the game remains "the ultimate expression of freedom, before next-gen reined it all back in."31 Sales and commercial successsource | editbeta By March 3, 2005, the game had sold over 12 million units for the PlayStation 2 alone, making it the highest selling game for PlayStation 2.32 As of September 26, 2007, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has sold 20 million units according to Take-Two Interactive.33 As of March 26, 2008, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has sold 21.5 million units according to Take-Two Interactive.34 The Guinness World Records 2009 Gamer's Edition list it as the most successful game in the PlayStation 2, with 17.33 million copies sold for that console alone, from a total of 21.5 million in all formats.17 In 2011, Kotaku reported that according to Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has sold 27.5 million copies worldwide.35